The Global Digital Collaboration Conference 2026 (GDC26) brought together more than 2.000 participants in Geneva from 1-3 September, connecting governments, international organisations, standardisation bodies, technology companies and digital ecosystem stakeholders around the future of digital identity, trust and interoperability. Aptitude participated in GDC26 alongside WE BUILD Consortium, contributing experience from Europe’s EUDI Wallet Large-Scale Pilots to discussions across the three-day programme.
Aptitude was represented by Florent Tournois, Aptitude Project Coordinator; Philippe Nieto, Aptitude Deputy Coordinator; Anthony Carmoy, Technical Director of the France Identité Programme at ANTS; Ivan Diego Meseguer, Director of IMT Brussels; Florian Andreae, Payments and Banking Lead at Aptitude; and Leone Riello from the Center for Cybersecurity, alongside other experts contributing to related sessions and demonstrations.
Aptitude’s participation covered several key areas shaping the future EUDI Wallet ecosystem. “Scaling digital identity in Europe: insights from Large-Scale Pilots (Aptitude & WE BUILD)”, co-organised by Aptitude and WE BUILD, brought together lessons from both pilots around cross-border interoperability, mutual recognition, user-centred services and the deployment of digital identity wallets at scale.
Digital Travel Credentials were another strong focus, through “DTC & Photo ID in action: latest pilots and real-world implementations” and “Public/private wallet interaction for DTC”. The practical dimension was demonstrated in “Experiencing DTC-VC in practice at the PhotoID ‘carwash’ room”, where participants could experience a digital travel journey from credential issuance based on passport-chip data to the presentation of a DTC-VC against an Aptitude verifier.
The programme also addressed the wider infrastructure needed to move EUDI Wallets from specifications to implementation. Contributions included “Status of EUDIW & EBW implementation in LSPs”, “The Backbone of the EUDIW Ecosystem: From Mandated Standards to Real-World Implementation” and “Trust Infrastructure for the EUDI Wallet: From Definition to Piloting to Reality”, covering implementation progress, standards, trusted lists and registries, certificates, credential catalogues and the first challenges emerging from piloting.
Across these contributions, GDC26 provided an important platform for Aptitude to share practical experience from its Large-Scale Pilot activities, demonstrate interoperability in real-world scenarios and contribute to the technical and governance discussions shaping the future European Digital Identity Wallet ecosystem.
Explore the GDC26 speakers, presentations, conference resources and event photos here.
